A lullaby is a soothing piece of music, usually played or
sung to young children. There is
something so magical and beautiful about these lullabies. A soothing music to
help those tiny toddlers fall asleep is a beautiful practice followed by
mothers across the globe since ages. A woman may not claim to be musically
accomplished..but when she carries her baby in her arms and rocks him/her to
sleep, she starts singing lullabies. No one teaches her before marriage about
how to sing her baby to sleep. Yet, she gets this magical power to mesmerize,
soothe and comfort her baby.
(Pic from google image)
I used to rock my kids in ‘thooli’ cradle made by folding
and tying an old cotton saree. The tying of the ‘thooli’ itself is an art and perfected
by my mother. The ‘thooli’ swinging to and fro and singing song to my kids in
the soothing tone is like almost hypnotizing the baby to sleep. I used to sing
few Bhajans. Sometimes I use to hold babies in my chest and sang these sweet
lullabies. But in spite of knowing all these songs, I used to sing some
favourite Classical Carnatic songs to croon my babies to sleep. They used to
listen to my rendition of “Karpagavallinin porpadangal”,chinachirupenpole,Parathpara Paremeswara Papanasamsivan songs, few Bharathiyar's song and Uthukkadu
Venkata Subbaiyer songs. At the end of these songs, they will open an eye and
say mmmaaa and I would start off again :)
However, unfortunately times are changing and this custom
has undergone many changes with time. What has happened to the mothers of
today? Motherhood itself is changing drastically with most urban women doing a
balancing a fulltime job and the task of childcare. Unlike our mothers and My generations mothers who
could easily sing those soothing lullabies and that would put us to sleep in no
time, new age moms are finding the act of putting a child to sleep a tough one.
Why? Simply because most of them
actually do not know how to sing a soulful lullaby!Initially few days even my daughter doesn't know song to console her baby.now she holding him and started singing songs what she knows:)
My beautiful newborn one month old grandson, has
been with me from the day he was born. I speak to him in our mother tongue. I
even put him to sleep with lullabies. He puts his little arms in my neck and
puts his small feet on my lap while I sing him a lullaby. The two of us share
these tender, blissful moments with each other.
For him I sing songs what I sung for my Kids. Apart from
that he likes "varam thantha swamiku " a Music composition by
Ilayaraja in Neelambari raga.
Whenever he cries I sing this song and he stops
his cry . This raga that is soothing like a lullaby that cradles one’s senses.
This is a raga that is associated with relaxation, peace, and slumber.
Another song
he falls asleep listening is Chinnanjiru kiliye'. Its a famous Bharathiyar song
based on raagamalika in tamil. so many
thalltu songs in Tamil to sing.
Today’s moms save songs on mobiles and pcs..One of his another favorite is aararo aariraro, aaraaro
aarirero ,aararoo.. aarirero....
yaradithar enaluthai aditharai soliyalu, kanne navamaniye- a laali/lullaby song for baby krishna by Bombay Jayashree and
Manikkam katti - P. Unnikrishnan. whenever he listens this song before end of these songs he sound asleep.
While it is not
advisable to put a toddler into this habit of depending on a gadget to fall
asleep, it will be lot nice if they get to sleep listening to some ‘meaningful
lullaby’ instead of a movie song. Mothers, who worry about inability to sing a
lullaby, not to worry as babies do not care what their mothers sing or how bad
their voices are, as long as they perform it with soul! We have all seen it how
much every kid loves the warmth that the mother gives them and make them fall
asleep. In a new research it was mentioned that child-mom relationship getting
stronger with soulful lullabies.The
children who go to sleep listening to lullabies of mother grow into more
confident people , its feels protected and emotionally happy.
